A look at economic developments and stock market activity around the world Tuesday:

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BERLIN – Exports from Germany, Europe’s largest economy, fell nearly 30 percent in April as the global economic crisis continued to hurt demand for its products, the Federal Statistical Office reported. Exports dropped to euro63.8 billion ($88.47 billion) from euro89.5 billion the previous year.

Meanwhile, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said the government foresees major restructuring and a wave of mergers for the country’s state-owned banks. Germany has eight public sector banks, or Landesbanken, owned by regional governments such as Bavaria and Berlin that play a key role in Europe’s largest economy by funding local businesses.

Separately, German retailer Arcandor AG filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to maintain the survival of its department stores and its mail-order company, a day after the government rejected its bid for state-backed emergency credit.

LONDON – A Bank of England official urged banks to resist any temptation to sit out the recession but to provide the capital needed to put the economy on the road to recovery. Paul Tucker, deputy governor for financial stability and a member of the central bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, said near-term indicators have improved slightly and confidence appears to have stabilized.

Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, one of two big British banks being propped up by the government, said it will cut another 1,600 U.K. jobs in a shake up of its lending businesses.

Meanwhile, industry groups reported falling retail sales in May and a rise in buyer inquiries and sales in the housing market last month.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 0.1 percent at 4,404.79.

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LUXEMBOURG – European Union finance ministers agreed on the outlines of a major regulatory overhaul that would set up new agencies to oversee financial companies and a new watchdog to warn of major risks.

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TOKYO – Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average slipped 0.8 percent to 9,786.82. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1 percent to 18,058.49, and South Korea’s Kospi was off 1.5 percent at 1,371.84. Taiwan’s market, which has surged nearly 50 percent from lows in March, slid 3.2 percent in the region’s worst performance of the day. Australia’s benchmark was also lower, while Singapore ended slightly higher. In mainland China, Shanghai’s index closed 0.7 percent higher, helped by optimism that news due this week about the country’s economy will show signs of improvement.

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SAO PAULO – Brazil’s government statistics agency said Latin America’s largest economy contracted in the first quarter, the second consecutive quarterly pullback. The IBGE agency says first-quarter output from January to March declined 0.8 percent following a 3.8 percent contraction in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter.

SHANGHAI – China’s passenger car sales shot up nearly 47 percent in May to 829,100 units, buoyed by tax cuts and other government incentives, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. But U.S. sales outpaced China’s last month for the first time this year.

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BERN, Switzerland – The Swiss government said it is holding talks with several potential buyers of its 6 billion-franc ($5.5 billion) stake in UBS AG. The mandatory convertible notes were part of a $60 billion bailout package agreed for UBS last October – since reduced to about $42 billion.

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RIGA, Latvia – Crisis-stricken Latvia’s foreign trade plummeted 40 percent in April compared to the same month last year, the country’s statistics agency said. Latvia is struggling with an increasingly dire recession, with the economy expected to shrink by nearly one-fifth this year. Unemployment is rising rapidly and is currently the second highest in Europe after Spain, according to Eurostat.

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MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s central bank said annual inflation slowed to 5.98 percent in May, falling below 6 percent for the first time this year as the country battles its deepest recession in decades.

Mexican stocks ticked up 0.1 percent to 24,967 in the afternoon.

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SINGAPORE – The chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s second-largest drug maker by revenue, said the global economy could remain sluggish for some time as tight credit markets and cautious corporate investment hamper growth. Glaxo CEOAndrew Witty said banks remain leery of lending and companies are still “risk averse.”

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HELSINKI – Finland’s economy shrank more than 7 percent in the first quarter, its worst performance in 15 years, official data showed, prompting the head of the central bank to urge the government to reconsider its finance policies.

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